SEAG prep should start early – PSC

Funding for the country’s staging of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games will come not only from the government but also from the private sector, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) said yesterday.

PSC chairman William ‘Butch’ Ramirez, emerging from a meeting with Foreign Affairs secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), said that while Malacañang is fully behind the hosting, the agency is also joining hands with the major players in generating funds.

Presidential Adviser for Sports Dennis Uy is spearheading the fund-raising campaign and he has gained the backing of the country’s top corporations.

It is for this reason that the stakeholders have been regularly meeting so “the campaign can kick off the soonest,” said Ramirez.

“We want to start the ball rolling, to spread the word that we are not only hosting (the 2019 SEAG) but also eyeing to win the overall crown,” said Ramirez.

The last time the SEAG was held in the country in 2005, the country took the overall title and that’s exactly what the men behind the hosting are looking at.

Newly-elected POC president Ricky Vargas is being guided by a certain mantra.

“Great hosting, great result,” he said.

The 2019 SEAG will be held from Nov. 30 until Dec. 9 with provincial venues targeted to host the opening and closing ceremonies and the lion’s share of the sports and events as well in a bid to avoid the traffic and pollution of Metro Manila.